South Africa's spot at top of the world at risk due to delayed start to rugby calendar
The World Champion Springboks will be at a distinct disadvantage should they face New Zealand and Australia in a revamped Rugby Championship later this year.
South Africa Rugby Chief Executive Officer Jurie Roux told a video-conference call earlier this week that they had allocated October and November as the timezones for the possibility of the return to Test rugby.
While there is still plenty of uncertainty as to what type of competitions the international window will include and the situation remains “very fluid”, Roux said the possibility of playing the Rugby Championship in a single venue ‘bubble’ is one of the options on the table.
However, the Boks will have lots of ground to make up when they take to the field again to defend their status as the world’s top-ranked team.
New Zealand’s franchises have been training for weeks and their inhouse competition, Super Rugby Aotearoa, gets underway this weekend.
Australian teams have also returned to the training field, with Super Rugby AU set to kick off on July 3.
South African teams are set to return to ‘limited’ training next week and a domestic competition is scheduled to get underway in August.
Injured Springbok prop Steven Kitshoff on Wednesday told a digital press conference that they are desperate to get back on the field as soon as possible.
“That [the delayed start] is why we want to get back on the field and start playing, even if it is behind closed doors,” Kitshoff told the media briefing.
He admitted match fitness and game readiness are going to play a massive role when the international season gets underway.
“If they [New Zealand and Australian teams] have already played six or seven games and we just started, it will have a massive influence on how prepared we are.”
He said it will be interesting to see where the teams are, how well they are conditioned and how quickly they can adapt to the whole post-COVID-19 situation.
“It is going to be very interesting to see how quickly can we get back to match fitness and perform like we did when the international season kicks off again,” he said of a Bok team that was on the crest of a wave after winning the Webb Ellis Cup in Yokohama, Japan, last year.
The Sharks, with World Cup winners Makazole Mapimpi and Lukhanyo Am in sublime form, were top of the standings after seven rounds – when the competitions were suspended as a result of COVID-19.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBMq0hEg-KU/
The Stormers relied heavily on their World Cup-winning forwards – like Kitshoff, Frans Malherbe and Steph du Toit – that saw them win all their matches opening in the four matches – before a two-match wobble and some crippling injuries halted their progress.
Kitshoff also revealed that he is in the final weeks of his rehabilitation, after undergoing surgery for a torn pectoral muscle injury – suffer in the 14-24 loss in last round of Super Rugby against the Sharks on March 14.
“Rehabilitation has been going great and I am feeling good,” Kitshoff said, adding: “I have a lot of mobility back and I am starting to build on upper body strength.
“I’ve got a month or so left. I don’t have any issues, no pain and it’s just about trying to get the strength back and starting to make contact.”
– Jan de Koning/Rugby365
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments